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Overview

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

For the second time in his short life, fourteen-year-old Teddy Clock has survived a massacre. Orphaned once more when his foster family is murdered, the traumatized teenager has nowhere to turn—until the Boston PD puts Detective Jane Rizzoli on the case. Jane spirits Teddy to the exclusive Evensong boarding school, a sanctuary where young victims of violent crime learn vital skills of survival. But even behind locked gates, Jane fears that Evensong’s benefactors aren’t the only ones watching. And when she learns of two other students whose pasts bear a shocking resemblance to Teddy’s, it becomes chillingly clear that a circling predator has more than one victim in mind. Joining forces with medical examiner Maura Isles, Jane races to stop an obsessed killer’s twisted quest—before an unspeakable secret dooms the children’s fate.

Don’t miss Tess Gerritsen’s short story “John Doe,” and a sneak peek of her novel, Girl Missing, in the back of the book.

“One of the most versatile voices in thriller fiction today.”—The Providence Journal “[Tess] Gerritsen has a knack for creating great characters and mysterious plots that seem straightforward but also dazzle with complexity and twists.”—Associated Press

“An exciting and puzzling mystery . . . [Last to Die] is a key book in a series that keeps getting better and better.”—Bookreporter

“Gerritsen skillfully heightens the tension right up to the suspenseful ending.”—Booklist

Product Details

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen earned international acclaim for her first novel of suspense, Harvest. She introduced detective Jane Rizzoli in The Surgeon (2001) and Dr. Maura Isles in The Apprentice (2002) and has gone on to write numerous other titles in the celebrated Rizzoli & Isles series, including The Mephisto Club, The Keepsake, Ice Cold, The Silent Girl, Last to Die, and Die Again. Her latest novel is the standalone thriller Playing with Fire. A physician, Tess Gerritsen lives in Maine.

Read an Excerpt

9780345515636|excerpt

Gerritsen / THE LAST TO DIE

We called him Icarus.

It was not his real name, of course. My childhood on the farm taught me that you must never give a name to an animal marked for slaughter. Instead you referred to it as Pig Number One or Pig Number Two, and you always avoided looking it in the eye, to shield yourself from any glimpse of self-­awareness or personality or affection. When a beast trusts you, it takes far more resolve to slit its throat.

We had no such issue with Icarus, who neither trusted us nor had any inkling of who we were. But we knew a great deal about him. We knew that he lived behind high walls in a hilltop villa on the outskirts of Rome. That he and his wife, Lucia, had two sons, ages eight and ten. That despite his immense wealth, he had simple tastes in food, and a favorite local restaurant, La Nonna, at which he dined almost every Thursday.

And that he was a monster. Which was the reason we came to be in Italy that summer.

The hunting of monsters is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it for those who feel bound by such trivial doctrines as law or national borders. Monsters, after all, do not play by the rules, so neither can we. Not if we hope to defeat them.

But when you abandon civilized standards of conduct, you run the risk of becoming a monster yourself. And that is what happened that summer in Rome. I did not recognize it at the time; none of us did.

Until it was too late.

ONE

On the night that thirteen-­year-­old Claire Ward should have died, she stood on the window ledge of her third-­floor Ithaca bedroom, trying to decide whether to jump. Twenty feet below were scraggly forsythia bushes, long past their spring bloom. They would cushion her fall, but most likely there’d be broken bones involved. She glanced across at the maple tree, eyeing the sturdy branch that arched only a few feet away. She’d never attempted this leap before, because she’d never been forced to. Until tonight she’d managed to sneak out the front door without being noticed. But those nights of easy escapes were over, because Boring Bob was on to her. From now on young lady, you are staying home! No more running around town after dark like a wildcat.

If I break my neck on this jump, she thought, it’s all Bob’s fault.

Yes, that maple branch was definitely within reach. She had places to go, people to see, and she couldn’t hang around here forever, weighing her chances.

She crouched, tensing for the leap, but suddenly froze as an approaching car’s headlights angled around the corner. The SUV glided like a black shark beneath her window and continued slowly up the quiet street, as if searching for a particular house. Not ours, she thought; no one interesting ever turned up at the residence of her foster parents Boring Bob and Equally Boring Barbara Buckley. Even their names were boring, not to mention their dinner conversations. How was your day, dear? And yours? The weather’s turning nice, isn’t it? Can you pass me the potatoes?

In their tweedy, bookish world, Claire was the alien, the wild child they’d never understand, although they tried. They really did. She should be living instead with artists or actors or musicians, people who stayed up all night and knew how to have fun. Her kind of people.

The black SUV had vanished. It was now or never.

She took a breath and sprang. Felt the night air whoosh in her long hair as she soared through the darkness. She landed, graceful as a cat, and the branch shuddered under her weight. Piece of cake. She scrambled down to a lower branch and was about to jump off when that black SUV returned. Again it glided past, engine purring. She watched it until it vanished around the corner; then she dropped down onto the wet grass.

Glancing back at the house, she expected Bob to come storming out the front door, yelling at her: Get back inside now, young lady! But the porch remained dark.

Now the night could begin.

She zipped up her hoodie and headed toward the town common, where the action was—­if you could call it that. At this late hour, the street was quiet, most of the windows dark. It was a neighborhood of picture-­perfect houses with gingerbread trim, a street populated by college professors and gluten-­free vegan moms who all belonged to book groups. Ten square miles surrounded by reality was how Bob affectionately described the town, but he and Barbara belonged here.

Claire did not know where she belonged.

She strode across the street, scattering dead leaves with her scuffed boots. A block ahead, a trio of teens, two boys and a girl, stood smoking cigarettes beneath the pool of light cast by a streetlamp.

“Hey,” she called out to them.

The taller boy waved. “Hey, Claire Bear. I heard you were grounded again.”

“For about thirty seconds.” She took the lit cigarette he offered her, drew in a lungful of smoke, and exhaled with a happy sigh. “So what’s our plan tonight? What’re we doing?”

“I hear there’s a party over at the falls. But we need to find a ride.”

“What about your sister? She could take us.”

“Naw, Dad took her car keys. Let’s just hang around here and see who else shows up.” The boy paused, frowning past Claire’s shoulder. “Uh-­oh. Look who just did.”

She turned and groaned as a dark blue Saab pulled up at the curb beside her. The passenger window rolled down and Barbara Buckley said, “Claire, get in the car.”

“I’m just hanging out with my friends.”

“It’s nearly midnight and tomorrow’s a school day.”

“It’s not like I’m doing anything illegal.”

From the driver’s seat, Bob Buckley ordered, “Get in the car now, young lady!”

“You’re not my parents!”

“But we are responsible for you. It’s our job to raise you right, and that’s what we’re trying to do. If you don’t come home with us now, there’ll be—­there’ll be, well, consequences!”

Yeah, I’m so scared I’m shaking in my boots. She started to laugh, but suddenly noticed that Barbara was wearing a bathrobe and Bob’s hair was standing up on one side of his head. They’d been in such a hurry to chase after her that they hadn’t even gotten dressed. They both looked older and wearier, a rumpled, middle-­aged couple who’d been roused from bed and, because of her, would wake up exhausted tomorrow.

Barbara gave a tired sigh. “I know we’re not your parents, Claire. I know you hate living with us, but we’re trying to do our best. So please, get in the car. It’s not safe for you out here.”

Claire shot an exasperated glance at her friends, then climbed into the Saab’s backseat and swung the door shut. “Okay?” she said. “Satisfied?”

Bob turned to look at her. “This isn’t about us. It’s about you. We swore to your parents that you’d always be looked after. If Isabel were alive, it would break her heart to see you now. Out of control, angry all the time. Claire, you were given a second chance, and that’s a gift. Please, don’t throw it away. Now buckle up, okay?”

If he’d been angry, if he’d yelled at her, she could have dealt with it. But the look he gave her was so mournful that she felt guilty. Guilty for being a jerk, for repaying their kindness with rebellion. It was not the Buckleys’ fault that her parents were dead. That her life was screwed up.

As they drove away, she sat hugging herself in the backseat, remorseful but too proud to apologize. Tomorrow, I’ll be nicer to them, she thought. I’ll help Barbara set the table, maybe even wash Bob’s car. Because damn, this car sure does need it.

“Bob,” said Barbara. “What’s that car doing over there?”

An engine roared. Headlights hurtled toward them.

Barbara screamed: “Bob!”

The impact threw Claire against her seat belt as the night exploded with terrible sounds. Shattering glass. Crumpling steel.

And someone crying, whimpering. Opening her eyes, she saw that the world had turned upside down, and she realized that the whimpers were her own. “Barbara?” she whispered.

She heard a muted pop, then another. Smelled gasoline. She was suspended by the seat belt, and the strap cut so deeply into her ribs that she could scarcely breathe. She fumbled for the release. It clicked open and her head thumped down, sending pain shooting up her neck. Somehow she managed to twist around so she was lying flat, the shattered window in view. The smell of gasoline was stronger. She squirmed toward the window, thinking about flames, about searing heat and flesh cooking on her bones. Get out, get out. While there’s still time to save Bob and Barbara! She punched through the last pebbly fragments of glass, sent them clattering onto the pavement.

Two feet moved into view and halted in front of her. She stared up at the man who blocked her escape. She could not see a face, only his silhouette. And his gun.

Tires shrieked as another car roared toward them.

Claire jerked back into the Saab like a tortoise withdrawing into the safety of her shell. Shrinking from the window, she covered her head with her arms and wondered if this time the bullet would hurt. If she would feel it explode in her skull. She was curled so tightly into a ball that all she heard was the sound of her own breathing, the whoosh of her own pulse.

She almost missed the voice calling her name.

“Claire Ward?” It was a woman.

I must be dead. And that’s an angel, speaking to me.

“He’s gone. It’s safe to come out now,” the angel said. “But you must hurry.”

Claire opened her eyes and peered through her fingers at the face staring sideways through the broken window. A slender arm reached toward her, and Claire cowered from it.

“He’ll be back,” the woman said. “So hurry.”

Claire grasped the offered hand, and the woman hauled her out. Broken glass tinkled like hard rain as Claire rolled onto the pavement. Too quickly she sat up, and the night wobbled around her. She caught one dizzying glimpse of the overturned Saab and had to drop her head again.

“Can you stand?”

Slowly, Claire looked up. The woman was dressed all in black. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, the blond strands bright enough to reflect a faint glimmer from the streetlamp. “Who are you?” Claire whispered.

“My name doesn’t matter.”

“Bob—­Barbara—­” Claire looked at the overturned Saab. “We have to get them out of the car! Help me.” Claire crawled to the driver’s side and yanked open the door.

Bob Buckley tumbled out onto the pavement, his eyes open and sightless. Claire stared at the bullet hole punched into his temple. “Bob,” she moaned. “Bob!”

“You can’t help him now.”

“Barbara—­what about Barbara?”

“It’s too late.” The woman grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a hard shake. “They’re dead, do you understand? They’re both dead.”

Claire shook her head, her gaze still on Bob. On the pool of blood now spreading like a dark halo around his head. “This can’t be happening,” she whispered. “Not again.”

“Come, Claire.” The woman grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Come with me. If you want to live.”

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Last to Die

Editorial Reviews

At the start of Gerritsen’s pulse-pounding 10th thriller featuring Det. Jane Rizzoli of the Boston PD and her close friend, pathologist Maura Isles (after 2011’s The Silent Girl), an unidentified narrator describes her hunt for a person nicknamed Icarus, a fiend who has sought refuge in a villa outside Rome, Italy. The scene shifts to Ithaca, N.Y., where 13-year-old Claire Ward survives a car crash that kills her foster parents, then to rural New Hampshire, where 14-year-old Will Yablonski’s aunt and uncle perish in an explosion that destroys their farmhouse. When a similar slaughter that leaves one foster child alive occurs on Boston’s Beacon Hill, Rizzoli and Isles get the case. The high-pressure assignment doesn’t delay Isles’s Maine vacation plans, but her time away from Boston turns out to be a highly unpleasant and risky busman’s holiday. Gerritsen pulls things together nicely by the end as she crafts several sequences that will leave readers anxious about the outcome. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Aug. 28)

Publishers Weekly

One of the most versatile voices in thriller fiction today.”—The Providence Journal

“[Tess] Gerritsen has a knack for creating great characters and mysterious plots that seem straightforward but also dazzle with complexity and twists.”—Associated Press

“An exciting and puzzling mystery . . . [Last to Die] is a key book in a series that keeps getting better and better.”—Bookreporter

“Gerritsen skillfully heightens the tension right up to the suspenseful ending.”—Booklist

From the Publisher

In their tenth outing (after The Silent Girl), Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles must deal with a case with links to the past. When a prominent Boston family is murdered, only 14-year-old foster child Teddy survives. Teddy is in fact a survivor twice over. He's only in the foster care system because his own family was killed a few years ago—with Teddy the only survivor. Jane doesn't buy the easy answer that her colleagues are pursuing. Neither does Maura, who encounters several other children with similar family histories. As Jane struggles to figure out the connection, Maura works to protect the kids (along with her own quasi-foster son), who are living at a Maine boarding school called Evensong. VERDICT Gerritsen pulls a lot of threads together but isn't completely successful at tying them up by book's end. Readers who haven't read the series before will be better served by backtracking to book one. That said, this is a fast-paced, intriguing mystery, and Gerritsen fans will be pleased to revisit Maura and Jane.—Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI

Library Journal

Three children survive wholesale homicide, and Rizzoli and Isles (Silent Girl, 2011, etc.) have to find out how. The Wards, the Yablonskis and the Clocks--what did they have in common, aside from being virtually wiped out in the same year? Not much, insists Detective Darren Crowe. Moreover, he's quick to point out, only one of those decimated families merits attention from the Boston PD since the last time he looked, neither New York nor New Hampshire was in its jurisdiction. A fair point, Detective Jane Rizzoli has to acknowledge, much as she dislikes her cocky, ever overconfident colleague. And yet, maybe it's just the fact that in all three cases a lone child is the escapee that niggles so persistently at the mother gene in Jane: two boys and a girl who--she can't shake the feeling--might once again become targets in whatever unfathomable game seems to be afoot. Meanwhile, medical examiner Maura Isles is on her long-planned visit to Julian Perkins, the brave and resourceful teenager she'd bonded with recently under extreme, near-fatal circumstances, and to whom her attachment has been ongoing. Here, too, the mother gene is in play. The reunion site is a special school named Evensong, designed to serve as a harborage for children traumatized by violence. Tucked away in a remote corner of Maine, surrounded by woods, it's further protected by a sophisticated security system. Not surprising, really, that Claire Ward, Will Yablonski and Teddy Clock should wind up under its beneficent wing. Nor is it surprising that someone clever, someone with malign intent, should also figure out Evensong's attraction. Suddenly, even with Rizzoli and Isles on hand, that which made Evensong a haven is reversed into a potential trap. Purplish prose and a wildly baroque ending won't deter a devoted fan base.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Exciting and well written. Didn't take me long to finish. Very enjoyable

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

As always, a great book from Tess Gerritson. The Rizzoli & Isles series is one of my absolute favorites. Every book is a page turner! Love them all, can't wait for the next one.

salvadore57

More than 1 year ago

Great series. Good yet refreshing allows readers to guess!

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

This is one of the best books that i have read in a long time. I flew through the lines to find out what was going to happen next! The ending certainly wasn't predictable! I highly recommend this book!

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Very well written, of course TG always does an excellent job. This one totally suprised me in the end. Characters as usual were well developed and I loved the way they intertwined within the plots.

Raspbeary

More than 1 year ago

Again, another fantastic book in the Rizzoli and Isles series!

RonnaL

More than 1 year ago

Ronna's review Aug 16, 12 &middot; edit bookshelves: first-reads Read
from August 12 to 15, 2012 To protect a twice orphaned boy from future
harm, Policewoman Jane Rizzoli transports her charge to a special school
in Maine. When his story matches eerily with two other teens at the
school, she decides that it's much more than a coincidence. All
three teens are the only member of their families to survive from
accidents--or could they have been murdered. Murder sounds probable,
because two years after these events, the teens new families are also
murdered. The children apparently survived by being in the wrong place
at the right time. Strangeness grows when it's discovered that the
children were all recruited into this remote, very secure private
school, Evensong. All of the staff and teachers are also survivors of
murder, and Maura Isles' young ward, Julian, has also been recruited to
the school. He's started his own forensic murder discovery club within
the school. Perhaps similar horrific backgrounds can help ground and
bring some peace to these kids. While Jane and Maura are debating and
possibly becoming comfortable with the idea of this placement, the
school psychologist jumps to her death in suspicious circumstances. One
thing soon becomes clear, these children are still in danger. But who
and why are these seemingly unrelated kids targeted to become the LAST
TO DIE in their families? Is anyone safe in this 'secure school'? Who
can be trusted and who are the murderers ? Once again, Tess Garritsen
has created a thrilling , originally plotted mystery where these two
working companions and friends must figure at what's happening before
they too become the next murder victims! Great series gets better and
better!! flag

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

I loved it!

kimba88

More than 1 year ago

Last to Die was pre-ordered for my Nook months ago. I adore this series and was a fan long before TNT made the hit tv series Rizzoli & Isles. While I enjoy the show and being able to share Jane and Maura with my hubby, it cannot hold a candle to the awesomeness that the novels deliver. Each of them can easily be read as a standalone. I read this over two evening and found it to be captivating and suspenseful. Rizzoli and Isles are called to the scene of a horrific home invasion. A young boy named Teddy Clock is the sole survivor when his foster family is brutally murdered. Two years ago his real family was slaughtered and he barely escaped. Rizzoli is asked to interview this traumatized young man and she cannot help but try and protect him. Maura Isles is looking forward to visiting Rat at Evensong; the exclusive boarding school he attends. Once there she makes some startling discoveries. All of the children are survivors/victims of violent crimes and two of these children have stories that are strikingly similar to Clock&rsquo;s case. Can there be a connection and does someone want these children dead? The tale that unfolds is full of spies, conspiracies and a psycho path that will stop at nothing to complete his mission. The characters in this series are unique, well fleshed out and quirky. Jane Rizzoli is a by the book and driven homicide detective who takes heat because she is a woman. Her partner Frost is loyal and has her back, even if it means sneaking around their commander. Cases get under Jane&rsquo;s skin and her intuition is usually correct. When her commanding officer considers this a slam dunk case against a perp with priors, Jane wants to purse a link between the children. I love Jane&rsquo;s attitude and fearlessness. Maura Isles the chief medical examiner is struggling with personal issues, and unsure if she fits in with the Boston crowd. Her friendship with Jane has been strained since she testified against a fellow police officer. The children and staff at Evensong were interesting and well developed for secondary characters. The witnesses and suspects surrounding the violent crimes that took the children&rsquo;s families was fascinating. An interesting friend of Maura's reappears and I so want to know his story. He is surrounded in mystery and he intrigues me. We learned more about him, but like Maura I was frustrated and want to know more. Throughout the novel chapters are told from the murderer's POV. The world-building was fascinating and I enjoyed watching Rizzoli and Isles piece together the clues. Creepy happening, deaths and dead animals around the school made the tale suspenseful. I found the Evensong Academy interesting and it's ties to a previously mentioned club creepy. The Jackals forensic club and the schools curriculum adding to the chill factor. While I generally like getting inside the mind of the killer, something Gerristen does so well..this time I felt it gave too many clues away. There were still plenty of twists and turns that kept me completely immersed and overall I was satisfied. Gerristen has a medical degree and worked until she went on maternity leave. She then began writing and her background shows.Her attention to forensic detail is chilling. Her researched in police procedures makes her stories feel authentic. Her writing style and arc development is beautiful. From the first page to the last I was enthralled. She had my heart racing as Rizzoli and Isles worked to solve this case. I love the seco

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Could not put this book down! This was the best series I have read in years! I was bummed that this is the last one!! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! hurry up and write another one Tess!!!

tejaslady

More than 1 year ago

Tess Gerritsen's "Last To Die" was a different kind of Rizzoli and Isles tale. Where they usually stay in more of a cosmopolitan atmosphere, in this book they also explore the world of the darkness of Man's soul, the supernatural, and negative human emotion. When I began reading I wasn't sure it was the right book and actually checked it out. Ms Gerritsen outdid herself this time.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

In true Gerritsen fashion, Last to Die had me puzzled til. the end. The plot is fast paced, thrilling and intriguing. Fans of Rizzoli and Isles will continue to enjoy the story woven throughout the book. The Rizzoli family as always adds humor to the book!

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Another winner for Tess Gerristsen. I have read all of her Rizzoli & Isles novels, and this, the 10th, was great. Good action. Interesting. And enjoyable. I highly recommend this and all of the Rizzoli & Isles novels.

Gerrittson's last few books have been superb but this one was a huge disappointment. The plot was slow and convoluted to the point of being tedious. I have come to expect so much better from this author, but I guess everyone has a low point sometimes. I just hope the next one is better. Stephanie Clanahan

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